Ministering To People

DATE

HOW DO WE MINISTER TO THE NEEDS OF PEOPLE?

Luke 10:29-37

(Luke 10:29) "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?"

(Luke 10:30 KJV) "And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead."

(Luke 10:31 KJV) "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side."

(Luke 10:32 KJV) "And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side."

(Luke 10:33 KJV) "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,"

(Luke 10:34 KJV) "And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."

(Luke 10:35 KJV) "And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee."

(Luke 10:36 KJV) "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?"

(Luke 10:37 KJV) "And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

This is a picture of a man going from the city of God, Jerusalem, down to the city of condemnation, Jericho, but is rescued by a Good Samaritan, The Lord Jesus Christ.

This is also a very clear example of a missionary endeavor – a person of a different nationality, going into another country, ministering to another person of another nationality.

There are three different people that had the opportunity to minister to this man.

A priest.

A Levite.

A Samaritan.

Who were these three people?

A priest - Religious leader.

A Levite - Religious person.

The Samaritan – No religion – wasn’t anything.

(Luke 10:36 KJV) "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?"

(Luke 10:37 KJV) "And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

That truly speaks well for organized religion – doesn’t it?

We don’t know any of the background events. We don’t know it these were just common thieves, or if this man may have owed a debt and this was a way of collecting it. Maybe it would be what we would consider today as gang, or drug related. But we do know that the injured man needed help.

We do know that a priest, a religious leader, saw him in his injured condition and decided to pass on by and not lend a helping hand.

So it was with the Levite. He was a religious person and saw the man was injured and decided also to pass on by.

There was a certain Samaritan that passed by and seeing the man in need offered to help him. Jesus was very impressed with the action of the Samaritan to the point that He recorded it in the eternal Word of God. He tells the man He is talking to to “Go and do likewise.” This tells me that anyone seeking to serve the Lord must do what? “GO AND DO LIKEWISE.”

This was given to us as an example by the Lord Jesus for us to determine who our neighbors are.

Let’s look at this Samaritan and what he did then we can learn from him how to minister to the needy of our community.

I. HE HAD COMPASSION FOR THE INJURED MAN

Compassion will cause us to see the need of others. Remember the Samaritan had no religious background at all. His compassion was of a social nature and not spiritual, but it didn’t matter to the Lord. He still commended the man anyway.

A. He Came To Where The Injured Man Was.

1. He didn’t pass by on the other side of the roadway as did the other religious men.

2. He didn’t tell the man that he would send help.

Nor did he say, He’s a Jew, who would have had no dealings with me, and why should I with him?

The priest didn’t even stop and look. He passed by on the other side.

The Levite even came and looked at the injured man and then went on by. What an insult that must have been. To have had a man stop and look, and he had to see the injuries, but then to ignore him and go on. Reminds me of modern culture today.